Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:22
Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.
22. Let their table before them become a snare;
Yea, when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
The language is suggested by the metaphors of the preceding verse. They had aggravated the sufferings of a joyless life: let their own enjoyments turn to their ruin. The idea of the transformation of their table into a snare becomes more intelligible if it is remembered that the table meant was probably a piece of leather unrolled and spread upon the ground, such as is still used in the East. The curse is intensified by the prayer that this fate may overtake them while they are in unsuspecting security. Cp. 1Th 5:3. The rendering of the A.V., which is substantially the same as that of the P.B.V., is untenable. It was introduced into the ‘Great Bible’ from Mnster’s Latin Version et quae in pacem ( esse debuerant sint) in offendiculum, and was doubtless derived by him from the Jewish scholar Kimchi.
The quotation of this verse in Rom 11:9 is made freely from the LXX, supplemented probably by a reminiscence of Psa 35:8 (34). The following verse is quoted exactly as it stands in the LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22 28. At the thought of the intolerable inhumanity of his enemies he can no longer restrain himself, and breaks out into fierce imprecation. Some commentators, feeling the difficulty of such imprecations proceeding from the Psalmist, have regarded these verses as the utterance of the Psalmist’s enemies, invoking destruction upon him and his companions. But such an interpretation is unnatural: the pronouns ‘their’ and ‘they’ in Psa 69:22 ff. cannot have a different reference from ‘they’ in Psa 69:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let their table become a snare before them – These verses are quoted by Paul Rom 11:9-10 as descriptive of the character of persons in his time, or as language which would express what he desired to say. See the passage explained at length in the notes at Rom 11:9-10. The whole passage is a prayer that they might receive a proper recompense for what they had done. The word table here means the table at which they were accustomed to eat. As they refused food to a hungry man, the prayer is, that they might find the recompense for their conduct in that very line; or that, as they refused food to the hungry, they might find their food a snare to them. That is, Let it be the means of punishing them for their not giving wholesome food to the hungry, or for their offering poisonous herbs to a starving man. The word snare here means unexpected danger; danger sprung suddenly upon them – as a snare is upon a wild beast.
And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap – Much of this is supplied by the translators. The literal rendering would be, And to those at peace (or secure) a trap. The word here rendered welfare is the plural form of the word meaning peace, and may denote those who feel that they are at peace; that they are secure; that they are in no danger. The ancient versions give it the sense of requitals, that is, a recompence for their transgressions; but the other signification best accords with the connection. The word trap is usually applied to the devices for capturing wild beasts, and the meaning is, Let the recompence come suddenly upon them, while they think themselves at peace, or when they are surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of life. This prayer is such as occurs frequently in the Psalms. It cannot be proved that it was uttered in a malignant spirit, or that anything more is intended by it than that the psalmist desired that justice might be done to all people – an object which all magistrates, and all good citizens, should pray for.
Psa 69:23
Let their eyes be darkened … – See the notes at Rom 11:10.
And make their loins continually to shake – As under a heavy burden. The apostle Rom 11:10 varies the language, but retains the idea: and bow down their back alway.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Let their table become a snare] The execrations here and in the following verses should be read in the future tense, because they are predictive; and not in the imperative mood, as if they were the offspring of the psalmist’s resentment: “Their table SHALL become a snare; – their eyes SHALL be darkened; – thou WILT pour out thine indignation upon them;-thy wrathful anger SHALL take hold of them; – their habitation SHALL be desolate, – and none SHALL dwell in their tents.”
The psalmist prophesies that the evils which they had inflicted on the Israelites should be visited on themselves; that as they had made them eat, drink, labour, and suffer, so God should in his judgment treat them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These and the following words, which are expressed in the form of imprecations, are thought by divers to be and that the imperatives are put for the as sometimes they are. And accordingly they translate the words thus, Their table shall become a snare, But if they be imprecations, here was sufficient cause for them. And besides, it is apparent that they were not the dictates of human passion, but of Divine inspiration, from a just zeal for Gods glory, as hath been before.
Their table, i.e. their food, and all their for necessity or delight, either for body or soul; curses here following are spiritual and eternal as temporal. And so this may comprehend their sacrifices and other legal ordinances, and the word of God; all to the Jews through their own default a great occasion of stumbling at Christ. And this punishment in their table exactly answers to their sin in giving Christ gall for his meat, Psa 69:21. Become a snare before them, Heb. before them (i.e. their table or meat, which is set
before them, which is the usual expression in this case, as Gen 18:8; 2Ki 6:22) become a snare, i.e. the occasion or instrument of their destruction. It is a metaphor taken from birds or fishes, that are commonly ensnared and taken with their baits.
And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap; Heb. and as for their great peace, (which the plural number seems to import, all that tranquillity and prosperity which they do or may enjoy,) let it be a trap; or, and their peace offerings (which sacrifices may be here mentioned, because the offerers did partake of them, and feast upon them; and so this agrees with the table expressed in the former clause) a trap. And so they were to the unbelieving Jews, whose false conceit of the everlastingness of the Mosaical dispensation was one cause of their rejection of Christ. Or thus, and for recompences, (i.e. an abundant compensation of all their injuries,) and for a trap. For thus it is rendered by divers, both ancient and modern, interpreters, and, which is more considerable, by the apostle, Rom 11:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22, 23. With unimportant verbalchanges, this language is used by Paul to describe the rejection ofthe Jews who refused to receive the Saviour (Rom 11:9;Rom 11:10). The purport of thefigures used is that blessings shall become curses, the “table”of joy (as one of food) a “snare,” their
welfareliterally,”peaceful condition,” or security, a “trap.”Darkened eyes and failing strength complete the picture of the ruinfalling on them under the invoked retribution.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let their table become a snare before them,…. This and the following imprecations were not the effects of a spirit of private revenge; of which there was no appearance in Christ, but all the reverse who prayed for his enemies, while they were using him as above related: but they are prophecies of what should be, being delivered out under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Ac 1:16. Wherefore some versions render the words, “their table shall become a snare” h; and therefore are not to be drawn into an example by us, to favour and encourage a revengeful spirit: and they are very just and righteous, according to “lex talionis”, the law of retaliation; since, inasmuch as they gave Christ gall for his meat, and vinegar for his drink, it was but right that the same measure should be meted out to them again; and their table mercies and blessings be cursed; that they should have them not in love, but in bitter wrath. Or that they should be left to be overcharged with them, and surfeit upon them; and so the day of their destruction come upon them as a snare: or that they should want the common necessaries of life, and be tempted to eat what was not lawful; and even their own children, as some did; see Mal 2:2 La 4:10. The Targum gives the sense of the words thus;
“let their table, which they prepared before me, that I might eat before them, be for a snare;”
meaning a table spread with vinegar and gall. Of the figurative sense of these words, [See comments on Ro 11:9]; where apostle cites this passage, and applies it to the enemies of Christ;
and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap; the word translated, “for [their] welfare”, comes from , which signifies both “to be at peace”, and “to recompense”; and so is differently interpreted. Some think the “shelamim”, or peace offerings, are meant; see Ex 24:5; and so the Targum,
“let their sacrifices be for a trap, or stumbling block;”
as they were, they trusting in them for the atonement of sin: and so neglected the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and his righteousness; which was the stumbling block at which they stumbled, and the trap into which they fell, and was their ruin. And it is observable, that while they were eating the sacrifice of the passover, they were surrounded by the Roman army, and taken as birds in a net, and as beasts in a trap. Others render the words, “to them that are at peace” i, let their table be “for a trap”; while they are living in security, and crying, Peace, peace, let sudden, destruction come upon them; as it did. But the apostle has taught us how to render the word “for a recompence”,
Ro 11:9; as the word, differently pointed, is in Isa 34:8. The true rendering and meaning of the whole seem to be this, “let their table become a snare before them”; and let their table be “for recompences” unto them, or in just retaliation; let the same food, or the like unto it, be set upon their tables, they gave to Christ, and let their table “become a trap”; for all relate to their table.
h “erit”, Pagninus, Montanus; “fiet vel fiat”, Gejerus. i “tranquilli”, Gejerus; so some in Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The description of the suffering has reached its climax in Psa 69:22, at which the wrath of the persecuted one flames up and bursts forth in imprecations. The first imprecation joins itself upon Psa 69:22. They have given the sufferer gall and vinegar; therefore their table, which was abundantly supplied, is to be turned into a snare to them, from which they shall not be able to escape, and that , in the very midst of their banqueting, whilst the table stands spread out before them (Eze 23:41). (collateral form of ) is the name given to them as being carnally secure; the word signifies the peaceable or secure in a good (Psa 55:21) and in a bad sense. Destruction is to overtake them suddenly, “when they say: Peace and safety” (1Th 5:3). The lxx erroneously renders: = . The association of ideas in Psa 69:24 is transparent. With their eyes they have feasted themselves upon the sufferer, and in the strength of their loins they have ill-treated him. These eyes with their bloodthirsty malignant looks are to grow blind. These loins full of defiant self-confidence are to shake ( , imperat. Hiph. like , Job 13:21, from , for which in Eze 29:7, and perhaps also in Dan 11:14, we find ). Further: God is to pour out His wrath upon them (Psa 79:6; Hos 5:10; Jer 10:25), i.e., let loose against them the cosmical forces of destruction existing originally in His nature. has the Dagesh in order to distinguish it in pronunciation from . In Psa 69:26 (from , to encircle) is a designation of an encamping or dwelling-place (lxx ) taken from the circular encampments (Arabic srat , sirat , and dwar , duar ) of the nomads (Gen 25:16). The laying waste and desolation of his own house is the most fearful of all misfortunes to the Semite ( Job, note to Psa 18:15). The poet derives the justification of such fearful imprecations from the fact that they persecute him, who is besides smitten of God. God has smitten him on account of his sins, and that by having placed him in the midst of a time in which he must be consumed with zeal and solicitude for the house of God. The suffering decreed for him by God is therefore at one and the same time suffering as a chastisement and as a witnessing for God; and they heighten this suffering by every means in their power, not manifesting any pity for him or any indulgence, but imputing to him sins that he has not committed, and requiting him with deadly hatred for benefits for which they owed him thanks.
There are also some others, although but few, who share this martyrdom with him. The psalmist calls them, as he looks up to Jahve, , Thy fatally smitten ones; they are those to whom God has appointed that they should bear within themselves a pierced or wounded heart (vid., Psa 109:22, cf. Jer 8:18) in the face of such a godless age. Of the deep grief ( , as in Psa 2:7) of these do they tell, viz., with self-righteous, self-blinded mockery (cf. the Talmudic phrase or , of evil report or slander). The lxx and Syriac render ( ): they add to the anguish; the Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome follow the traditional text. Let God therefore, by the complete withdrawal of His grace, suffer them to fall from one sin into another – this is the meaning of the da culpam super culpam eorum – in order that accumulated judgment may correspond to the accumulated guilt (Jer 16:18). Let the entrance into God’s righteousness, i.e., His justifying and sanctifying grace, be denied to them for ever. Let them be blotted out of (Exo 32:32, cf. Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1), that is to say, struck out of the list of the living, and that of the living in this present world; for it is only in the New Testament that we meet with the Book of Life as a list of the names of the heirs of the . According to the conception both of the Old and of the New Testament the are the heirs of life. Therefore Psa 69:29 wishes that they may not be written by the side of the righteous, who, according to Hab 2:4, “live,” i.e., are preserved, by their faith. With the poet contrasts himself, as in Ps 40:18, with those deserving of execration. They are now on high, but in order to be brought low; he is miserable and full of poignant pain, but in order to be exalted; God’s salvation will remove him from his enemies on to a height that is too steep for them (Psa 59:2; Psa 91:14). Then will he praise ( ) and magnify ( ) the Name of God with song and thankful confession. And such spiritual , such thank-offering of the heart, is more pleasing to God than an ox, a bullock, i.e., a young ox (= , an ox-bullock, Jdg 6:25, according to Ges. 113), one having horns and a cloven hoof (Ges. 53, 2). The attributives do not denote the rough material animal nature (Hengstenberg), but their legal qualifications for being sacrificed. is the name for the young ox as not being under three years old (cf. 1Sa 1:24, lxx ); as belonging to the clean four-footed animals, viz., those that are cloven-footed and chew the cud, Lev. 11. Even the most stately, full-grown, clean animal that may be offered as a sacrifice stands in the sight of Jahve very far below the sacrifice of grateful praise coming from the heart.
When now the patient sufferers ( ) united with the poet by community of affliction shall see how he offers the sacrifice of thankful confession, they will rejoice. is a hypothetical preterite; it is neither ( perf. consec.), nor (Psa 40:4; Psa 52:8; Psa 107:42; Job 22:19). The declaration conveying information to be expected in Psa 69:33 after the Waw apodoseos changes into an apostrophe of the “seekers of Elohim:” their heart shall revive, for, as they have suffered in company with him who is now delivered, they shall now also refresh themselves with him. We are at once reminded of Psa 22:27, where this is as it were the exhortation of the entertainer at the thank-offering meal. It would be rash to read in Psa 69:23, after Psa 22:25, instead of (Olshausen); the one object in that passage is here generalized: Jahve is attentive to the needy, and doth not despise His bound ones (Psa 107:10), but, on the contrary, He takes an interest in them and helps them. Starting from this proposition, which is the clear gain of that which has been experienced, the view of the poet widens into the prophetic prospect of the bringing back of Israel out of the Exile into the Land of Promise. In the face of this fact of redemption of the future he calls upon (cf. Isa 44:23) all created things to give praise to God, who will bring about the salvation of Zion, will build again the cities of Judah, and restore the land, freed from its desolation, to the young God-fearing generation, the children of the servants of God among the exiles. The feminine suffixes refer to (cf. Jer 2:15; Jer 22:6 Chethb). The tenor of Isa 65:9 is similar. If the Psalm were written by David, the closing turn from Psa 69:23 onwards might be more difficult of comprehension than Psa 14:7; 51:20f. If, however, it is by Jeremiah, then we do not need to persuade ourselves that it is to be understood not of restoration and re-peopling, but of continuance and completion (Hofmann and Kurtz). Jeremiah lived to experience the catastrophe he foretold; but the nearer it came to the time, the more comforting were the words with which he predicted the termination of the Exile and the restoration of Israel. Jer 34:7 shows us how natural to him, and to him in particular, was the distinction between Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The predictions in Jer 32:1, which sound so in accord with Psa 69:36., belong to the time of the second siege. Jerusalem was not yet fallen; the strong places of the land, however, already lay in ruins.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Pleading with God; Prophetic Imprecations. | |
22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. 24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. 25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. 27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. 29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
These imprecations are not David’s prayers against his enemies, but prophecies of the destruction of Christ’s persecutors, especially the Jewish nation, which our Lord himself foretold with tears, and which was accomplished about forty years after the death of Christ. The first two verses of this paragraph are expressly applied to the judgments of God upon the unbelieving Jews by the apostle (Psa 69:22; Psa 69:23; Rom 11:9; Rom 11:10), and therefore the whole must look that way. The rejection of the Jews for rejecting Christ, as it was a signal instance of God’s justice and an earnest of the vengeance which God will at last take on all that are obstinate in their infidelity, so it was, and continues to be, a convincing proof of the truth of the Christian religion. One great objection against it, at first, was, that it set aside the ceremonial law; but its doing so was effectually justified, and that objection removed, when God so remarkably set it aside by the utter destruction of the temple, and the sinking of those, with the Mosaic economy, that obstinately adhered to it in opposition to the gospel of Christ. Let us observe here,
I. What the judgments are which should come upon the crucifiers of Christ; not upon all of them, for there were those who had a hand in his death and yet repented and found mercy (Act 2:23; Act 3:14; Act 3:15), but upon those of them and their successors who justified it by an obstinate infidelity and rejection of his gospel, and by an inveterate enmity to his disciples and followers. See 1Th 2:15; 1Th 2:16. It is here foretold,
1. That their sacrifices and offerings should be a mischief and prejudice to them (v. 22): Let their table become a snare. This may be understood of the altar of the Lord, which is called his table and theirs because in feasting upon the sacrifices they were partakers of the altar. This should have been for their welfare or peace (for they were peace-offerings), but it became a snare and a trap to them; for by their affection and adherence to the altar they were held fast in their infidelity and hardened in their prejudices against Christ, that altar which those had no right to eat of who continued to serve the tabernacle, Heb. xiii. 10. Or it may be understood of their common creature-comforts, even their necessary food; they had given Christ gall and vinegar, and therefore justly shall their meat and drink be made gall and vinegar to them. When the supports of life and delights of sense, through the corruption of our nature, become an occasion of sin to us, and are made the food and fuel of our sensuality, then our table is a snare, which is a good reason why we should never feed ourselves without fear, Jude 12.
2. That they should never have the comfort either of that knowledge or of that peace which believers are blessed with in the gospel of Christ (v. 23), that they should be given up, (1.) To a judicial blindness: Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not the glory of God in the face of Christ. Their sin was that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light, loving darkness rather; their punishment was that they should not see, but be given up to their own hearts’ lusts, which were hardening, and the god of this world should be permitted to blind their minds, 2 Cor. iv. 4. This was foretold concerning them (Isa. vi. 10), and Christ ratified it, Mat 13:14; Mat 13:15; Joh 12:40. (2.) To a judicial terror. There is a gracious terror, which opens the way to comfort, such as that of Paul (Acts ix. 6); he trembled and was astonished. But this is a terror that shall never end in peace, but shall make their loins continually to shake, through horror of conscience, as Belshazzar, when the joints of his loins were loosed. “Let them be driven to despair, and filled with constant confusion.” This was fulfilled in the desperate counsels of the Jews when the Romans came upon them.
3. That they should fall and lie under God’s anger and fiery indignation (v. 24): Pour out thy indignation upon them. Note, Those who reject God’s great salvation proffered to them may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them; for those that submit not to the Son of his love will certainly be made the generation of his wrath. It is the doom passed on those who believe not in Christ that the wrath of God abideth on them (John iii. 36); it takes hold of them, and will never let them go. Salvation itself will not save those that are not willing to be ruled by it. Behold the goodness and severity of God!
4. That their place and nation should be utterly taken away, the very thing they were afraid of, and to prevent which, as they pretended, they persecuted Christ (John xi. 48): Let their habitation be desolate (v. 25), which was fulfilled when their country was laid waste by the Romans, and Zion, for their sakes, was ploughed as a field, Mic. iii. 12. The temple was the house which they were in a particular manner proud of, but this was left unto them desolate, Matt. xxiii. 38. Yet that is not all; it ought to be some satisfaction to us, if we be cut off from the enjoyment of our possessions, that others will have the benefit of them when we are dislodged: but it is here added, Let none dwell in their tents, which was remarkably fulfilled in Judah and Jerusalem, for after the destruction of the Jews it was long ere the country was inhabited to any purpose. But this is applied particularly to Judas, by St. Peter, Acts i. 20. For, he being felo de se–a suicide, we may suppose his estate was confiscated, so that his habitation was desolate and no man of his own kindred dwelt therein.
5. That their way to ruin should be downhill, and nothing should stop them, nor interpose to prevent it (v. 27): “Lord, leave them to themselves, to add iniquity to iniquity.” Those that are bad, if they be given up to their own hearts’ lusts, will certainly be worse; they will add sin to sin, nay, they will add rebellion to their sin, Job xxxiv. 37. It is said of the Jews that they filled up their sin always, 1 Thess. ii. 16. Add the punishment of iniquity to their iniquity (so some read it), for the same word signifies both sin and punishment, so close is their connexion. If men will sin, God will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin may yet find mercy, for God multiplies to pardon, through the righteousness of the Mediator; and therefore, that they might be precluded from all hopes of mercy, he adds, Let them not come into thy righteousness, to receive the benefit of the righteousness of God, which is by faith in a Mediator, Phil. iii. 9. Not that God shuts out any from that righteousness, for the gospel excludes none that do not by their unbelief exclude themselves; but let them be left to take their own course and they will never come into this government; for being ignorant of the demands of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish the merit of their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, Rom. x. 3. And those that are so proud and self-willed that they will not come into God’s righteousness shall have their doom accordingly; they themselves have decided it: they shall not come into his righteousness. Let not those expect any benefit by it that are not willing and glad to be beholden to it.
6. That they should be cut off from all hopes of happiness (v. 28): Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be suffered to live any longer, since, the longer they live, the more mischief they do. Multitudes of the unbelieving Jews fell by sword and famine, and none of those who had embraced the Christian faith perished among them; the nation, as a nation, was blotted out, and became not a people. Many understand it of their rejection from God’s covenant and all the privileges of it; that is the book of the living: “Let the commonwealth of Israel itself, Israel according to the flesh, now become alienated from that covenant of promise which hitherto it has had the monopoly of. Let it appear that they were never written in the Lamb’s book of life, but reprobate silver let men call them, because the Lord has rejected them. Let them not be written with the righteous; that is, let them not have a place in the congregation of the saints when they shall all be gathered in the general assembly of those whose names are written in heaven,” Ps. i. 5.
II. What the sin is for which these dreadful judgments should be brought upon them (v. 26): They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and talk to the grief of thy wounded. 1. Christ was he whom God had smitten, for it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and he was esteemed stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, and therefore men hid their faces from him,Isa 53:3; Isa 53:4; Isa 53:10. They persecuted him with a rage reaching up to heaven; they cried, Crucify him, crucify him. Compare that of St. Peter with this, Acts ii. 23. Though he was delivered by the counsel and foreknowledge of God, it was with wicked hands that they crucified and slew him. They talked to the grief of the Lord Jesus when he was upon the cross, saying, He trusted in God, let him deliver him, than which nothing could be said more grieving. 2. The suffering saints were God’s wounded, wounded in his cause and for his sake, and them they persecuted, and talked to their grief. For these things wrath came upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. ii. 16; and see Matt. xxiii. 34, c. This may be understood more generally, and it teaches us that nothing is more provoking to God than to insult over those whom he has smitten, and to add affliction to the afflicted, upon which it justly follows here, Add iniquity to iniquity see Zech. i. 15. Those that are of a wounded spirit, under trouble and fear about their spiritual state, ought to be very tenderly dealt with, and care must be taken not to talk to their grief and not to make the heart of the righteous sad.
III. What the psalmist thinks of himself in the midst of all (v. 29): “But I am poor and sorrowful; that is the worst of my case, under outward afflictions, yet written among the righteous, and not under God’s indignation as they are.” It is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of God, than rich and jovial and under his curse. For those who come into God’s righteousness shall soon see an end of their poverty and sorrow, and his salvation shall set them up on high, which is the thing that David here prays for, Isa. lxi. 10. This may be applied to Christ. He was, in his humiliation, poor and sorrowful, a man of sorrows, and that had not where to lay his head. But God highly exalted him; the salvation wrought for him, the salvation wrought by him, set him up on high, far above all principalities and powers.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
22. Let their table before them be for a snare. Here we have a series of dire imprecations, with respect to which we must bear in mind, what we have elsewhere observed, that David did not allow himself recklessly to pour out his wrath, even as the greater part of men, when they feel themselves wronged, intemperately give way to their own passion; but, being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was kept from going beyond the bounds of duty, (88) and simply called upon God to exercise just judgment against the reprobate. Farther, it was not on his own account that he pleaded in this manner; but it was a holy zeal for the divine glory which impelled him to summon the wicked to God’s judgment-seat. It was also owing to this: that he was not carried away by violence of passion, like those who are actuated by a desire of taking revenge. Since, then, the Spirit of wisdom, uprightness, and moderation, put these imprecations into the mouth of David, his example cannot justly be pleaded in self-vindication by those who pour forth their wrath and spite upon every one that comes in their way, or who are carried away by a foolish impatience to take revenge; never allowing themselves to reflect for a moment what good purpose this can serve, nor making any efforts to keep their passion within due bounds. We need wisdom by which to distinguish between those who are wholly reprobate and those of whose amendment there is still some hope; we have also need of uprightness, that none may devote himself exclusively to his own private interests; and of moderation too, to dispose our minds to calm endurance. It being evident, then, that David was distinguished by these three qualities, whoever would follow him aright, must not allow himself to break forth with reckless and blind impetuosity into the language of imprecation; he must, moreover, repress the turbulent passions of his mind, and, instead of confining his thoughts exclusively to his own private interests, should rather employ his desires and affections in seeking to advance the glory of God. In short, if we would be true imitators of David, we must first clothe ourselves with the character of Christ, that he may not administer to us at the present day the same rebuke which he gave to two of his disciples of old,
“
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” (Luk 9:55.)
David had complained that his enemies mingled his meat with gall; and now he prays that their table may be turned into a snare for them, and that the things which are for peace may be turned into a net for them. These expressions are metaphorical, and they imply a desire that whatever things had been allotted to them in providence for the preservation of life, and for their welfare and convenience, might be turned by God into the occasion or instrument of their destruction. From this we gather that as things which naturally and of themselves are hurtful, become the means of furthering our welfare when we are in favor with God; so, when his anger is kindled against us, all those things which have a native tendency to produce our happiness are cursed, and become so many causes of our destruction. It is an instance of the Divine justice, which ought deeply to impress our minds with awe, when the Holy Spirit declares that all the means of preserving life are deadly to the reprobate, (Tit 1:15😉 so that the very sun, which carries healing under his wings, (Mal 4:2,) breathes only a deadly exhalation for them.
(88) “ Mais estant conduit par le Sainct Esprit, il n’a point passe outre les limites.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Let their table.The form of this imprecation is, of course, suggested by the figurative language immediately preceding. Life had been made bitter by rancour and enmity, and the psalmist hurls back his curses, couched in the terms which had arisen to his lips to express his own misery.
And that which.Rather, and to them in peace a noose. Seated at the banquet, amid every sign of peace, and every means of enjoyment, let their surroundings of security and pleasure become their snare and ruin. (Comp. 1Th. 5:3. See St. Pauls citation, Rom. 11:9, New Testament Commentary.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. From this to Psa 69:28 the strain turns to solemn imprecation. On the grammatical and moral sense of these so-called imprecations see notes on Psalms 109.
Let their table become a snare Eating together is, in the East, proverbially both a token and a pledge of friendship. No Oriental betrays his own guest.
That which should have been for their welfare a trap Literally, and the things of peace for a trap. The idea in both members of the verse is, that they would be brought to such a condition of alarm, danger, and distrust, that the occasions and things which seemingly proffered the greatest safety and friendship would turn out to be only snares and traps. To this condition they had already reduced David; but, more than this, the passage prophetically applies to Christ, and the perfidy of Pharisees and false friends.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Plea for Vengeance
v. 22. Let their table become a snare before them, v. 23. Let their eyes be darkened, v. 24. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, v. 25. Let their habitation be desolate, v. 26. For they persecute Him whom Thou hast smitten, v. 27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, v. 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, v. 29. But I am poor and sorrowful, v. 30. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving, v. 31. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs, v. 32. The humble shall see this and be glad, v. 33. For the Lord heareth the poor, v. 34. Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moveth therein, v. 35. For God will save Zion, v. 36. The seed also of His servants,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Psa 69:22. Let their table, &c. Their table shall be for a snare before them, and their peace-offerings for a trap. This and the following verses are to be understood in the future tense, by way of prediction, and not of imprecation. The meaning of the whole verse is this, “The oblations and prayers of those who have dealt thus barbarously. with me, shall be so far from pacifying God, or being accepted by him, that like the offerings to false gods, styled the preparing a table, &c. Isa 65:11 they shall provoke God, and turn to their mischief.” See Rom 11:9. The 25th verse had a most eminent completion in the final destruction of the Jewish state and nation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
We may accept these verses as so many expressions of prophecy, which were literally fulfilled, as our Lord elsewhere predicted, in the siege and overthrow of Jerusalem, about forty years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. Luk_19:41; Luk_19:44 . It is impossible to read these scriptures, and then turn to the present state of our elder brethren the Jews, but with the most painful concern. Surely the Lord hath given them the spirit of slumber; eyes that they shall not see, and ears that they shall not hear. If the Reader be disposed to meditate on this solemn subject, he will find that the Holy Ghost hath furnished sufficient matter for it, Rom 11 throughout. And who that doth contemplate the same, but must find his heart drawn out to join the apostle in that part of it, and convert it into a prayer, that the time may be hastening when the deliverer shall come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.
Ver. 22. Let their table become a snare before them ] Let them eat their bane, and drink their poison; while all their cares are sauced with the wrath of God: Quoniam hoe mode cibarunt me, saith Kimchi, because they have served me on this sort. By “table,” saith another interpreter, we are to understand all means of comfort and refreshing, both of body and soul, which turn to the ruin of the wicked, even an odour of death unto death, 2Co 2:15-16 .
And that which should have been, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 69:22-28
22May their table before them become a snare;
And when they are in peace, may it become a trap.
23May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see,
And make their loins shake continually.
24Pour out Your indignation on them,
And may Your burning anger overtake them.
25May their camp be desolate;
May none dwell in their tents.
26For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten,
And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded.
27Add iniquity to their iniquity,
And may they not come into Your righteousness.
28May they be blotted out of the book of life
And may they not be recorded with the righteous.
Psa 69:22-28 This strophe discusses what the psalmist requests that YHWH will do to his enemies. See notes at Psa 69:6 (imperfects used as jussives). There are
1. three jussives
2. five imperfects used in a jussive sense
3. two imperatives
a. make their loins shake continually BDB 588, KB 609, Hiphil imperative (this is the poetic opposite of Psa 69:29 b)
b. pour out Your indignation on them BDB 1049, KB 1629, Qal imperative
Psa 69:22 This verse is quoted in Rom 11:9-10, which deals with unbelieving Israel.
Psa 69:25 is quoted in Act 1:20 about the Field of Blood purchased by the priests with Judas’ betrayal money.
Psa 69:27 a may be alluded to in Rom 1:28, which deals with the sinfulness of all humanity (cf. Rom 3:9-18; Rom 3:23).
NASBwhen they are in peace
NKJVtheir well-being
TEVsacred feasts
NJBtheir abundance
REBwhen they feel secure
The MT has security (BDB 1022) but the Aramaic Targums have sacrificial feasts (cf. NRSV, TEV). The NRSV changes it to a snare for their allies (cf. JPSOA) using an idiom from Psa 55:20 (i.e., close friends).
Psa 69:25 This is imagery from the Wilderness Wandering Period.
Psa 69:26 This verse seems to reflect Isa 53:4; Isa 53:10 (cf. 2Co 5:21).
The verb form (BDB 319) of the noun translated wounded appears in Isa 53:5 (BDB 319, KB 320, Poal participle). The verb smitten (BDB 645, KB 697, Hophal participle) also occurs in Isa 53:4.
Psa 69:21; Psa 69:26 surely would have caused the Gospel writers to see a connection!
Psa 69:28 In the ANE citizens of a city’s names were recorded on a roll. The Bible uses this imagery to reflect God’s knowledge. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TWO BOOKS OF GOD .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Let, &c. Imprecation. Suitable for a dispensation of Law and Judgment; not for this Day of Grace. See Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 69:22-28
Psa 69:22-28
PRAYER FOR THE OVERTHROW OF UNGODLY ENEMIES
“Let their table before them become a snare;
And when they are in peace, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;
And make their loins continually to shake.
Pour out thine indignation upon them,
And let the fierceness of thine anger overtake them.
Let their habitation be desolate;
Let none dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten;
And they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity;
And let them not come into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of life,
And not be written with the righteous.”
Up to this point in the psalm, “Christ and his passion have been foreshadowed, but here the impassable gulf between the Type and the Antitype, between David and Christ, begins to widen before us. Christ prayed for his enemies; David cursed his; Christ was not willing that any should perish, but here David actually prayed for his enemies to be blotted out of the Book of Life.
We should not judge David too harshly. He lived before the Great Atonement was made on Calvary. He could not possibly have known all of the horrible terrors that would be involved in one’s being cast out of God’s Book of Life; but Jesus knew all things; and from an infinitely higher level he gave his Life that all men might be saved from eternal death.
From the human standpoint, David’s enemies fully deserved the imprecations heaped upon them; and the infinitely sad thing is that, as proved by Paul’s use of these very words, the wicked persecutors of Jesus indeed suffered the full measure of David’s imprecations upon the wicked in this passage.
“Snare … trap” (Psa 69:22). These prophetic words were applied by the apostle Paul to the hardening of Israel in the times of Christ. He added the word “stumbling-block”; but as John Murray stated it, “All three of these words are closely related, and precise distinctions of meaning are not to be pressed.
The meaning that Paul assigned to the passage is that, their `table’ was such things as the Law of Moses, and the religious institution of Israel, and that such privileges were misused by Israel, not for teaching the Gentiles the knowledge of God, but for the nourishment of Jewish conceit
Exactly what David meant by these words as applied to the enemies of his times is not known. One possibility is that “the table” refers to the privileges of the kingship, which became a trap for Saul and his followers through their abuse of such privileges in the persecutions of David.
“Pour out thine indignation upon them … let thine anger overtake them … let their habitation be desolate … let them not come into thy righteousness … let them be blotted out of the book of life” (Psa 69:24-28). It is impossible to think of a more terrible curse than this one. Rather than meditate upon this line by line, we shall rejoice that Christ has indeed taught us a more wonderful reaction to the resentment one naturally feels against those who hate and persecute us without cause.
Jesus taught us to “go the second mile,” to “give the cloak also,” to “turn the other cheek,” to “pray for them that despitefully use us,” and to “overcome evil with good.” May God help his children to walk in the way of the Master.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 69:22-23. The Jews rejected Jesus and plotted his death. As a result they were destined to be rejected by the Lord. We do not have to guess at the application of this prophecy, for Paul cites it in connection with his remarks about the Jewish nation and the shortcomings charged against it. (Rom 11:9-10.)
Psa 69:24. This verse is in the form of a prayer, but it is a prediction of the judgment of God upon that wicked nation for its disrespect of the divine law.
Psa 69:25. The nation as a whole was considered guilty of the death of Christ. However, the agent in the wicked deed was Judas. This prediction also is clearly interpreted in the New Testament. In Act 1:20. Peter quoted it when he was preparing to find a man to take the place of Judas as an apostle. The plural form of the pronoun need not confuse us. Judas was the actor for the nation and it was appropriate to speak of the tragedy in that manner.
Psa 69:26. It was God’s will that Jesus be smitten (Isa 53:4), but that did not justify the motives of those who fulfilled that part of the Lord’s plan. God gave his Son over into the hands of wicked men, then they persecuted him with a bitter hatred.
Psa 69:27. The original for iniquity is defined by Strong as, “perversity, i.e. (moral) evil.” In the King James version it has been translated by punishment (or iniquity) as well as by just iniquity. Hence this verse is a prayer for God to add the punishment of iniquity to the wicked Jews for their practice of iniquity. The last clause of the verse means for God not to favor them with a reward of righteousness.
Psa 69:28. This verse practically means for the wicked Jews to be forgotten and left out of the record. That would cut them off from all sharing with the righteous.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Let their table: etc. Or, rather, “Their table shall become a snare; their eyes shall be darkened,” etc., in the future tense. Pro 1:32, Mal 2:2, Rom 11:8-10
a trap: Isa 8:14, Isa 8:15, 1Pe 2:8
Reciprocal: Deu 28:17 – General Jos 23:13 – snares Jdg 4:17 – peace Job 24:18 – their portion Psa 5:10 – let Psa 28:4 – Give Psa 41:10 – that Psa 55:15 – Let death Pro 1:27 – your fear Isa 28:13 – that Jer 18:23 – forgive Dan 9:27 – that determined Zec 11:9 – that that dieth Mat 24:21 – General Luk 13:9 – if not Luk 19:27 – General Luk 21:22 – all Luk 22:22 – but Joh 12:35 – lest Rom 11:9 – David saith
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 69:22. Let their table, &c. Dr. Waterland renders the verse, Their table shall be for a snare before them, and their peace-offerings for a trap. This and the following verses are to be read in the future tense, and considered as predictions rather than as imprecations. The meaning of the whole verse seems to be, The oblations and prayers of those who have dealt thus barbarously with me, shall be so far from pacifying God, or being accepted of him, that, like the offerings made to false gods, styled the preparing a table, Isa 65:11, they shall provoke God, and turn to their mischief: see Rom 11:9. Dodd. The sacrifices, peace- offerings, and other oblations of the Jews, were, in a remarkable manner, a snare to them, in that their dependence on them, and their conceit of the everlastingness of the Mosaic dispensation, was one chief cause of their rejection of Christ.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
69:22 Let their {r} table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.
(r) He desires God to execute his judgments against the reprobate, which cannot by any means be turned, Rom 11:9.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Up to this point, Christ and His passion have been so evidently foreshadowed (see on Psa 69:4; Psa 69:9; Psa 69:21) that we are almost prepared now for a plea approximating to ’Father, forgive them’. The curse which comes instead is a powerful reminder of the new thing which our Lord did at Calvary." [Note: Kidner, p. 248.]
Most of these verses call down God’s punishment on those who had opposed God’s anointed who sought to do His will and glorify Him. David was not venting his personal hatred but was asking God to punish those who resisted him. A "snare" was a self-springing trap, and a "trap" may have had bait in it. [Note: VanGemeren, p. 460.]
The Apostle Paul applied Psa 69:22-23 to the Jews who had opposed the Lord Jesus, in Rom 11:9-10 (cf. 1Th 5:3).
The reason David wanted God to deal with his adversaries so severely comes through in Psa 69:26. They had poured salt in a wound that God had given him. Evidently David viewed his suffering as ultimately coming from God in the sense that He had permitted it. His human enemies were adding insult to injury by treating him the way they did.
Likewise, God was behind the crucifixion of His Son, but the human agents of Jesus’ sufferings and death were also responsible and had to bear the punishment for their actions.
David asked that God blot out the names of his enemies from His book of life (Psa 69:28). This probably refers to the book of the living (cf. Rev 3:5). The term "book of life" in the Old Testament refers to the record of those who are alive physically (cf. Exo 32:32-33; Deu 29:20; Psa 69:28; Dan 12:1; cf. Exo 17:14; Deu 25:19; Isa 4:3). It came to have a more specific meaning in the New Testament. There it usually refers to the list of the names and deeds of the elect (Luk 10:20; Php 4:3; Heb 12:23; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:12; Rev 20:15; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:19; cf. Rev 2:11; Rev 2:17; Rev 3:5; Rev 3:12). [Note: See Charles R. Smith, "The Book of Life," Grace Theological Journal 6:2 (Fall 1985):219-30.] In other words, David asked God to cut the lives of his enemies short.
"Many people struggle with the idea of divine retribution against unrepentant sinners. But Jesus’ appeal to forgive one’s enemies must be balanced by His role of Avenger, the One who will judge those who remain in obstinate rebellion against Him (Rev 19:11-16)." [Note: Merrill, "Psalms," p. 440.]